Cowboy's Haven
Page 6
Love? Of course, he loved her. Bentley fell for his widowed sister-in-law the moment his eyes fell on her from that basement window. He loved her before knowing who she really was. Mandy’s clumsiness as a fighter, as a mother and as a woman made him fall in love with her more. Her body and the way she made love were only bonuses.
Bentley picked another cracked pot and threw it on the broken wall. His aim missed, and the pot broke the other side of the wall. The glass slipped from the frame and it came crashing to the ground. It hit the older table with more pots and made loud crashing sounds.
“Bentley!” Mandy yelled as she ran to the greenhouse. Her face was pale with fear, but she rushed inside without care. “What happened?”
“Nothing. I just made a mess,” Bentley answered. He looked at her with a stern face and asked, “Are you still leaving?”
Mandy fell silent. She refused to talk to him and hid in William’s room despite his appeal to explain his proposal. Bentley feared that he might lose them.
“Was it because of the sheriff’s question?” Bentley asked.
Mandy evaded his eyes as she replied, “It didn’t have anything to do with my decision.”
“I love you,” Bentley said before Mandy could add more.
Mandy stilled like a statue upon hearing his words. Her eyes sparkled, but a tear fell down her cheeks as she replied, “You don’t have to force yourself to love me, Bentley. You don’t have the obligation to protect me or to marry me.”
“I’m answering the sheriff’s question now,” Bentley emphasized. “I could not answer it before because I’m not used to declaring my feeling in front of strangers.”
“We both know it’s not true,” Mandy countered. “We don’t have anything between us. We…we only had sex. And, that’s not enough ground for marriage.”
“It’s not just because we had sex, Mandy. I want to protect the ones I love. That’s you, William and this ranch,” Bentley explained. “Why do you think I came to the ranch only now? I could have fought for my rights over it the moment I got out of prison.”
Mandy remained silent despite Bentley’s desperation to hear a reply. Bentley’s heart stopped beating for a moment as if fear arrested it. His fear had kept him from answering the sheriff’s question. He was scared that Mandy had no feelings for him other than desire.
Many of the people Bentley had loved left him because of the accusations against him. Mandy had not said anything about his past, but he worried that like the others, she could not accept it.
“Or is it you who can’t answer the question?” Bentley accused. Mandy turned red at his question. He reached for her hand and looked straight at her eyes.
“I had never loved before,” Mandy confessed. Her voice shook. “So, I don’t know if this is love, but I want to be with you. I want to be your wife. But, Bentley, you can’t…”
Bentley pulled her and silenced her mouth with his. Mandy tried to pull away, but he pulled her head hard against his and deepened the passion in his kiss. The young woman could not resist his kisses and she began to answer him with the same passion. He pulled away and whispered, “You have already answered my proposal.”
“Bentley, we have to think about this. I don’t care about me, but what about…”
“This town hasn’t cared about me since I got accused of a crime I never committed,” Bentley told Mandy. “So, I don’t care what they would think about us.”
“Bentley…”
He silenced her again with his passionate kisses. Mandy shed tears as she let go of her feelings for him. She pulled away from Bentley and said, “But, the ranch. We would lose it.”
Bentley fell silent. They would have a life together, but they would have to start it in another place. A stinging pain jolted his heart. He’d promised his father to raise his own family on the ranch. That it would remain in the hands of a Hawkins for many generations. Damn you, Jonathan. His brother not only robbed him of his right to the ranch, but Jonathan had also robbed him of half of his dream.
He looked at Mandy. For a moment, Bentley felt sorry for his brother. Jonathan hadn’t done anything right for him except for one thing. Mandy. Jonathan brought Mandy and William to him.
“We can work hard and build our own in the future,” Bentley said.
His voice did not have any confidence. Having their own ranch would only be a dream for them once they lost the ranch they had.
Mandy held his hand and kissed him. She smiled and said, “Let’s get married here before we lose it.”
Bentley nodded softly. He smiled cheekily and said, “Let’s have our honeymoon here, too. We have done it in the barn and in the house. There’s still the stables, the fields…”
“And this greenhouse,” Mandy answered with a giggle.
“Ah. The greenhouse should be fulfilled tonight,” Bentley declared.
“I love you,” Mandy said gently. Her eyes widened when she realized that the word had slipped from her mouth.
Bentley laughed and answered, “Now, there’s the other answer I wanted.”
#
“Be careful, William!” Mandy yelled.
Bentley laughed at Mandy’s worried face. Its color was almost as white as a paper. Bentley took William for a horse ride. The kid always wanted to ride a horse like a cowboy, but no one could take him for a ride. Mandy did not want him to go because of the fear that the child would get hurt.
“I’m a cowboy, Momma!” William yelled back happily.
“Slow down, Bentley!” Mandy called when her fiancé rode the horse faster. “I’ll have a headache because of you two.”
Bentley shook his head. He slowed down and rode the horse back to Mandy. Worry filled his face when he saw a car entering the ranch. Mark had not bothered them for a few days, but they were still worried that old man would come and destroy the peace they had enjoyed for days.
“Take him inside,” Bentley ordered as he gave William to Mandy.
Mandy was about to leave when the car stopped. A woman in her early forties got out of the driver’s seat. Mandy and Bentley looked at each other.
“May I help you?” Bentley asked as he stepped down from the horse.
“Mr. Bentley Hawkins?” the older woman asked. Bentley replied with a nod. The woman frowned a little and said, “Fiona Davis. Loan officer from Security State Bank. I’m here about your loan.”
“We have decided to forego the ranch,” Bentley announced sadly.
“That’s too bad. But, if you will give me a moment, I think you won’t have to forego anything,” Fiona said with a kind smile.
Bentley and Mandy looked at each other again. Mandy nodded and Bentley invited Fiona to the porch.
“A few weeks ago, you applied for a loan, but your collateral wasn’t enough,” Fiona reminded Bentley. The young man frowned and nodded. “I felt sorry for you, but I discovered that you can afford the loan by using another property as collateral.”
“But, we only have the truck and my bike,” Bentley told the loan officer.
Fiona smiled and handed over some documents. Bentley’s eyes widened when he read them. Mandy looked at him with curiosity.
“A-are you sure about this?” Bentley asked in a stutter.
Fiona nodded with a wide smile. She explained that, a few months before he died, William Hawkins Sr. transferred some of his stocks to Bentley’s name. Jonathan and their mother took all the remaining stocks from the bank after the older Hawkins’s death. Bentley’s stocks were forgotten as he never claimed them.
“A few days ago, I was tasked to send notices to the owners of unclaimed stocks, and I found yours,” Fiona explained. “The value of the stocks is not that much, but it’s enough to give you a loan that could cover your deficits. That is if you are willing to use it as collateral.”
Mandy looked at Bentley. ”I didn’t understand any of that.”
Bentley did not mind re-explaining to her. He pulled her close and kissed her passionately.
“What are you doing?” Mandy
asked. Her face was red as she glanced at Fiona.
“Mr. Hawkins can get the ranch back,” Fiona told Mandy.
Mandy’s mouth dropped open in shock. Fiona laughed at the couple. She stood and told Bentley, “If you have time, you can process the papers tomorrow. That is if you want the ranch back before your wedding day.”
“I’ll be there the moment you open,” Bentley said happily.
Bentley pulled Mandy close to him and kissed her again with more passion than he’d ever shown before. He smiled and gazed at her.
“I guess, the ranch should have always been yours,” Mandy told him.
Bentley shook his head. He carried William in his hands and said, “It’s ours. It will always be ours, Mrs. Hawkins.”
#
Mandy smiled and leaned her head on Bentley’s chest. She looked around the Hawkins’s Ranch. It looked more peaceful and beautiful than before. The smell of the pine and fir trees still filled her with happiness. Her life as a widow had begun the same way a few months before.
The young fiancée looked at her five-year-old son, William, who still had no idea of what had come to them. She laughed a little. She hadn’t known what would come after her husband’s death. But, this time, Mandy knew what was to come after meeting Bentley. A beautiful life with the dirty-talking, but golden-hearted cowboy, who she loved the most and who would become her husband in the haven she treasured.
-end-
Thank you for downloading this book. I hope that you enjoyed this first book for the ‘ Fated to Cowboy’ series.
If you enjoyed this book, you should also read the other equally steamy and fiery romance books in this series Cowboy’s Refuge and Cowboy’s Retreat coming up soon.
I hope that this book awakened your passion to your partner or encouraged you to find your own romance. Be it the boy next door or a cowboy oozing with sexiness.
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